Midterm Information

Some of you have asked me about the midterm exam which is coming up next Monday. The exam will cover the material read in class (the exam is not cumulative), and will consist of two parts:

I. 30 points. Simple identification of characters, and simple plot resolutions. You will be asked ten 3 point questions.

Example:
What is the name of the captain in Two Years Before the Mast?
Why does Thoreau go to jail?

II. 70 points. You will also be asked to answer two essay questions. These questions are designed for you to show how well you handle the information you read in the class throughout the semester. This class is a 300-level class, so the questions are designed to elicit certain concepts and certain texts. You will be expected to remember which texts are relevant to your discussion. That is, if you are talking about the Criollo elite in the 19th century, you should also remember that these types of families are represented in Cirilo Villaverde’s Cecilia Valdés, and in Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s The Squatter and the don. Since the questions will ask you to be specific, you will receive more credit if you mention the characters’ names, than if you use generic terms like “the protagonist.” You will also be expected to remember the author’s names in the texts you read.

Examples:

1. The ship in the iconography of the nineteenth century, often symbolized the state. What does the resolution of the revolt/mutiny in Benito Cereno by the African slaves imply in terms of their hopes for a future in countries like Spain, and the U.S.?

2. The film Two Years Before the Mast often compared the sailors to slaves. The association between the fate of the sailors on the ship and the fate of the slaves in the U.S. (remember the ship was named the “Pilgrim”) is not hard to make. And yet Dana’s progressive depiction is contradicted in his writings, for example when he talks about the “California fever.” Comparing the film to his writings, what can you say about the relationship of progressive political ideas and racism in the nineteenth century?